en Ecology Ecology پژوهشي Orginal research papers A taxonomic study on <em>Kumococius rodericensis </em>(Cuvier, 1829), <em>Grammoplites suppositus </em>(Troschel, 1840), <em>G. scaber </em>(Linnaeus, 1758), <em>Sorsogona tuberculata</em> (<a href="http://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/233560" title="Sorsogona tuberculata (Cuvier, 1829)">Cuvier, 1829), </a><em>Platycephalus indicus</em> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Linnaeus" title="Carl Linnaeus">Linnaeus</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_edition_of_Systema_Naturae" title="10th edition of Systema Naturae">1758</a>) and<em> Cociella crocodilus</em> (Cuvier, 1829) (family Platycephalidae) commonly occurring along the coast of India, was conducted to identify the traits which can easily differentiate the species. The study was based on samples (n=203) collected from landing centers of maritime states situated along the East and West coast of India from August 2015 to April 2016. In shape analysis no significant difference was observed at 95% level of confidence (<em>p</em><0.05) between Left and right otolith and between male and female, so only the left otolith of all specimens considered for analysis for all species. The otolith of <em>S. tuberculata</em> was most rounded by 1.79 score among other species while otolith of <em>C. crocodilus</em> was more flat by 2.55 score. <em>K. rodericensis</em> and <em>G. scaber</em> had roundness score of more than 2.20 while <em>G. suppositus</em> and <em>P. indicus</em> had roundness scores less than 2.20. All species showed values of number of end points (points at the end of one pixel thick open branches) were zero except <em>C. crocodilus</em> that had a number of end points equal to 5, which showed that the periphery of otolith had five grooves larger than 1 pixel. The study disclosed a specific morphological and morphometric based characters of otolith that can be used to adjudicate the ambiguity in the flathead species. Groove, Morphometric, Otolith, Otolith periphery, Aragonite 174 186 http://jifro.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-3888-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 V. Pathak vkspathak20@gmail.com 100319475328460045468 100319475328460045468 Yes ICAR – Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Versova, Mumbai G. Kumari garimafishco@gmail.com 100319475328460045469 100319475328460045469 No Directorate of Coldwater Fisheries Research, Bhimtal S. Kumar Sharma shravansharmacofsn@gmail.com 100319475328460045470 100319475328460045470 No Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute - Kolkata, West Bengal S. Bhushan shashi@cife.edu.in 100319475328460045471 100319475328460045471 No Central Institute of Fisheries Education A.K. Jaiswar akjaiswarr@yahoo.com 100319475328460045472 100319475328460045472 No Central Institute of Fisheries Education